Exit Package
by willynilly23
Summary: This is how broken I think Walkerson is, here is a proposed end to Season 5.
1. Chapter 1

Notes: So Auggie has been taken, we will obviously see what happens to him over the next few weeks, but here is something I would like to see as an end to Season 5 and beginning of Season 6….we're getting a Season 6, right?

Those of you used to my happy Walkerson fics may not recognize this, but I am currently completely unconvinced Walkerson is fixable….

***555***

"Auggie?" Millie asked tentatively.

"Yep," he answered curtly and continued typing a mile a minute.

"DCS is looking for you," she said and scurried off before he had a chance to snap at her.

Auggie sighed, finished up his sentence and shut down his workstation. He took his cane and headed up to the 7th floor.

"He asked for me," Auggie announced himself hoping Calder's assistant was outside the office.

"Go right in," the young man instructed.

"Auggie," Calder stood when Auggie entered the room.

"Calder. Joan," Auggie turned toward the scent of Joan's perfume.

"Still don't enjoy that trick," Joan smiled and Auggie shrugged.

"We called you in to tell you you will be receiving the Intelligence Medal of Merit, congratulations."

"All I did was get kidnapped, you should ship that over to McQuaid. On second thought, he has enough money, I'll take it," Auggie frowned.

"You went through hell, you didn't break and you collected enough intel to lead Annie and McQuaid to Belenko's front door, gift wrapped him. Take the award, take the money and be proud of your service," Calder said kindly.

"OK, but I want something else too," Auggie began.

"Name it," Calder sat.

"An exit package."

"Auggie," Joan sighed.

"I'm done Joan, I have served my country faithfully and well at great personal cost and I am done."

"Maybe you just need some time," Joan began not willing to lose Auggie without a fight.

"I've had time, I had this same conversation with you 7 years ago. Yes, I have survived again, but when do I stop surviving and start living. I am on the short slope to 40 Joan, I need to have a life."

"There are plenty of positions here that would allow you a life," Calder began.

"I don't want any of those jobs," Auggie shook his head. "I want out."

***555***

3 Months Later

Annie looked at the phone and saw Arthur's name on the display.

"Hey, what's up?" she asked as she continued to type.

"Can you swing by my office before you leave?"

"Sure, be there in a few," Annie hung up and finished her debrief document.

Arthur requesting her presence was not unusual both Annie and Arthur had risen in the ranks at McQuaid in the aftermath of the Belenko mission.

Annie knocked and Arthur called her in and asked her to shut the door.

"Annie, I know you and Joan aren't really on speaking terms right now and I am not getting in the middle of that, but she asked me to ask if you had talked to Auggie lately."

"No, I haven't seen him since after you know, got swept up in the next mission and then I felt kind of bad about not reaching out. I figured he would call when he wanted to talk…wait, why doesn't Joan know how Auggie is?" Annie realized suddenly.

"Auggie left the agency Annie, 3 months ago. He didn't tell you," the last statement was not a question as Arthur realized his two former operatives were more broken than he thought.

"What?" Annie looked up shocked.

"He took an exit package, right after the Belenko mission."

"And no one has heard from him? Is he OK?" Annie's mind raced back to what Auggie had been through before they found him.

"Well, apparently no one knows," Arthur sighed, his own guilt over Auggie evident as well.

"I'll reach out, swing by there on my way home, see what's up. Let Joan know I will check on him," Annie offered knowing Joan could not from her position in the agency.

"Thanks Annie," Arthur smiled.

***555***

Annie pulled up outside Auggie's building and found a parking spot. She took her time entering the building, a flood of memories of times past walking these halls. She took the stairs two at a time and built up her courage as she approached the metal door to unit B7.

She knocked and waited several minutes and hearing nothing took out her lock pick and went to work. She had the door open easily and gasped as she slid it back.

Annie instantly knew this was no longer Auggie's loft. His sleek modern aesthetic that was as much his design perspective as it was the necessity of his blind life was gone and replaced with a very kitschy busy collection of girlie things that looked like a college grad met a hoarder and moved into Auggie's apartment. She slid the door closed quietly and went to the kitchen island.

Sure enough a pile of mail indicated the new resident was named Kendal Harrison and she had a subscription to Shape, a cable bill and catalogs for various clothing retailers. Annie sighed.

She got out of the apartment without being spotted and made her way back to the lobby.

"Annie?" the landlady who had directed Annie to Auggie in his Corvette years before was updating the bulletin board in the lobby, posting information on recycling pick-ups.

"Mrs. Watson," Annie smiled.

"What brings you back here? Didn't think I would see you after Auggie moved out," the older lady smiled.

"When exactly was that?" Annie asked.

"Oh, close to 3 months ago now, you didn't know?"

"No, we hadn't, I've been busy," Annie shrugged lamely.

"I was sad to see him go, he was such a nice boy."

"Did he tell you where he was going?"

"No, he paid out the termination clause on his lease, thanked me and was gone in a matter of days."

"Did he give you a forwarding address for mail or anything?"

"He did. I shouldn't really share that…."

"It is really important," Annie smiled her sweetest smile.

"Well, I know how important you were to him," the woman smiled back.

She returned a minute later with a printed email from Auggie, Annie read it looking for any clues and her heart dropped when she saw the forwarding address was a dead drop address she knew was a dead end.

TBC…


	2. Chapter 2

"You OK?" Ryan asked as he watched Annie push her food around on her plate without really eating it.

"Huh?" she asked lamely.

"You OK? You haven't eaten anything."

"Not really hungry, sorry," she smiled sweetly at him.

"Do you want to head home?" he asked and Annie knew he meant his home, she pretty much lived there these days.

"I um, I actually have a couple things I need to take care of at my place, it is quite neglected these days," she covered.

"OK, let me just get the bill, I can drop you there," he offered.

"Thanks," she nodded.

***555***

Once home Annie pulled out the pages she had printed off at the library on her lunch break, not wanting any of her research showing up on a McQuaid computer. Auggie clearly didn't want to be found and if she actually did find him she wanted to be the one to approach.

She decided to start with the most obvious of Auggie's women and dialed the last known number for Natasha Petrovna. She of course got voicemail, she didn't think Tash answered her phone ever. She had planned her message accordingly:

"This is Annie, you know me better as the seeing eye dog to a mutual friend. I am in a bind and could really use your services, please call at your earliest convenience."

Annie figured if she called she didn't know where Auggie was and if she didn't she was very likely with him or at least aware of his location. Less than 10 minutes later she called.

"Tash."

"Annie, what can I do for you and the American Government," her voice was distorted by a no doubt intricate set of screening and filtering devices.

"I was wondering if you had seen or heard from Auggie."

"Not since I left DC."

"You're sure?" Annie asked although she knew Tash wouldn't have called Annie if Auggie had told her not to.

"Yes."

"OK, sorry to bother you."

"Is he all right?"

"Yeah, just took a little trip without a forwarding address."

"He deserves a break Annie, you should probably let sleeping dogs lie," she snorted at the dog comment.

"Yeah," Annie sighed, Tash had no idea what Auggie had been through and how odd this complete communication breakdown was.

She thanked Tash, hung up and dialed a number she never thought she would dial, it rang twice.

"Hello?"

"Parker, it's Annie Walker," she began.

"Is Auggie OK?" the woman asked suddenly and Annie knew she had no idea where he was, she wasn't a good enough liar to cover so quickly.

"I was hoping you could tell me. Has he reached out to you at all recently?"

"No, last time I saw Auggie he made it very clear it was the last time I was going to see him."

"Oh," Annie deflated.

"Are you worried about him?" Parker asked, her voice small.

"No, no, don't worry I am sure he's fine. We, um, we had a fight awhile back and we haven't talked much," Annie told her basically the truth.

"Well, if I learned anything while I was with Auggie it is that he loves you Annie, so I am sure you two can work it out. Good luck," Parker said and hung up.

Annie sat for a minute looking at the phone wondering how this seemingly clueless young woman had such insight into her and Auggie's complicated relationship.

Annie didn't have time to find and call every one of Auggie's former girlfriends, if he didn't reach to Parker or Tash she was pretty sure he wasn't reaching to any of the others….except.

Annie rifled through the papers she had and dialed a third time.

"Liza Hearn," the reporter answered on the first ring.

"Liza, you don't know me, but my name is Annie Walker."

"You're Annie Walker? Really?" Liza sounded dubious.

"Yes, I guess you know who I am then."

"You took down Henry Wilcox."

"I'm not stating that for the record, but if you know that than you know we have a mutual friend."

"Auggie. Rumors are we have more than mutual friendship between us," she laughed.

"Yeah," Annie sighed.

"How is Auggie?"

"I don't know, he left DC a few months ago. Left his employer and I can't seem to locate him."

"Do you think your employer went after him?"

"No, I think he is hurting and needs help. Liza, I need help."

***555***

Thirty minutes later the statuesque brunette slid into a dark booth at the back of a bar near Annie's place.

"I had to put my make-up back on, make sure Auggie knows I did that for him," Liza grinned.

"It'll be the first thing I tell him after I wring his neck for worrying me," Annie quipped and noticed the frown.

"What?"

"You're making this about you, you're over-analyzing, maybe Auggie just needs a break," Liza repeated Tash's earlier words.

"I reached out to a few close friends but am getting nowhere," Annie sighed and sipped her beer.

"Once again, you are making this too personal. What is the number one rule, in both of our industries, when trying to find someone?" Liza said rationally.

"Follow the money," Annie answered with a smile.

"Auggie, of all the people I know, could probably get by on his good looks alone, but he must have money somewhere," Liza reasoned.

"I can't believe he's not in DC," Annie shook her head.

"Auggie was always a bit of a conundrum to me," Liza ordered a beer before continuing, "As good as the sex was it always seemed like he wasn't really there. At first I thought it was the lack of eye contact, but then I realized he just didn't have his heart in it."

Annie listened and tried to reconcile an Auggie like that with the man she felt so wholly attached to once. A man who despite never looking her in the eye seemed to know the depth of her soul, who made love to her with such focus that it seemed like an act more intimate than it already was.

"If my sources in the CIA are as accurate as they usually are, you tore his heart out and stomped on it with your Louboutins," Liza glanced under the table to admire Annie's shoes.

"I didn't mean to," Annie defended petulantly, "Auggie and I are complicated."

"No doubt, but I would have given almost anything for him to actually care about me Annie, if he did care about you you were a fool to let him go."

TBC…


	3. Chapter 3

Notes: Thank you so much for the lovely reviews, they mean so much!

***555***

Annie stifled a yawn, her evening with Liza went 3 beers in and now she was paying for it before lunch the next day. She had to finish up her work as she had a lunch date she could not miss.

"Want to grab some lunch?" Ryan ducked in without knocking.

"Hey there, can't actually, meeting a potential source," she lied with such ease but it still hurt.

"Oh, which case?"

"Phillips, it might be nothing, but it might be something," she smiled and shrugged.

"Want some muscle from the boss?" he offered.

"Don't want to scare him off just yet, if the follow up needs muscle you know you are my guy," she assured and he nodded and moved on.

Annie threw her phone in her bag with the envelope of details she was able to gather on her own and set out to her lunch meeting.

***555***

"Annie!" the tall man was easy to find in a crowd.

"Hi Eric," Annie smiled as she greeted Barber.

"I have to admit I was surprised by your call," he returned the smile, but Annie could see it was tinged with curiosity and a little bit of a defensiveness.

"I know, I haven't been around much since I left the agency."

"What can I do for you? You said you needed my expertise, doesn't McQuaid have a hundred hackers on staff?"

"This is more of a personal nature," Annie mentioned as a hostess seated them.

"Ah, missing your old personal hacker," he nodded sagely, "what is it about?"

"My old personal hacker," Annie sighed.

"Sorry Annie, no can do," Eric stood to leave, it would take more than a free lunch for him to double cross Auggie.

"Eric, please sit down. I'm just worried, I just want to know he is OK."

"He's fine," Barber assured.

"Wait, you've heard from him?"

"Couple post cards, he's fine."

"Where is he?" Annie asked stunned.

"No idea."

"Where are the post cards from?"

"All over, but the picture and the postmark never match, I am sure he is convincing people to write and mail them for him, they are always brief, just to let me know he's alive," Barber shrugged.

"And you're OK with that?"

"Well, I miss him, sure, but he needed a break Annie," Barber was the 3rd person to say that now.

"I'd like to find him, see for myself that he is OK."

"If you wanted to make sure he was OK you might have tried being around after he came back," Eric said as kindly as he could muster.

"I know."

"You two are the dumbest smart people I have ever met. You were handpicked for each other, designed to fit together in every possible way and you both managed to screw it up so royally," Eric had worked up a head of steam and then blushed at his own comments.

"It's complicated."

"It really isn't."

***555***

Once Barber opened a few virtual doors it took Annie no time at all to actually find Auggie's bank account, one of them at least. She analyzed the past few months and found a consistent deposit pattern in cash, no checks no direct deposit. A little more help from Barber and she was able to isolate the location of the deposit to a bank in Barbados.

Annie was cleaning up in Ryan's kitchen and debating whether she should approach Auggie at all when Ryan startled her.

"Need help?" he offered nicely.

The plate in her hands hit the granite counter top and shattered into a million pieces.

"Wow, you OK?" he leapt into action grabbing a dustpan and sweeping up the shards of glass that circled her bare feet.

"Don't move," he ordered and scooped her up after he had removed the big pieces, "there could still be little pieces."

"Thanks," she said lamely and felt her body go stiff in his arms.

He put her down awkwardly in the living room.

"Annie, what is going on?"

"I need some time off," she announced.

"Yeah," he sighed and nodded, "We have been at it pretty non-stop. We could go skiing, I can get the villa set up in a day or two."

Annie felt bad, his heart was always in the right place. Ryan McQuaid had proven to be a real stand-up guy, but at the end of the day he wasn't the man she loved.

"I was thinking more of a girls' trip, spa and sun kind of thing."

"With your sister?"

"We keep saying we are going to try and reconnect, we really should," the lies were coming so easily they actually made her stomach hurt.

"I think that's great, we should have the Phillips case wrapped up soon," he squeezed her elbow and went back to finish cleaning up the broken plate.

Annie felt the pressure on her elbow, the muscle memory of different longer fingers wrapped around that same spot.

***555***

"Do you have time for coffee today? Off campus?" Annie asked discreetly after the morning briefing.

"Sure," Arthur agreed, "2:00?"

Annie just nodded and headed back to her office.

"I found him," she said as they strolled around Lafayette Square.

"Really? Is he OK?"

"Not sure, just a general location."

"And?" Arthur prompted when she offered nothing further.

"He's in Barbados," she squinted against the afternoon sun.

"Really?" Arthur let out a laugh.

"Yeah."

"Well, good work Annie, thanks for digging in to it. I'll let Joan know, she'll appreciate it as well."

"It wasn't hard info to find out, I'm surprised she didn't have the resources."

"You know how tricky it is after an exit, no contact for a year…."Arthur blathered lamely.

"Joan has broken protocol for a lot less."

"Honestly, she thought you would find him quicker," Arthur admitted.

"And she wanted me to know he was gone," Annie prodded.

Arthur just smiled.

"Well whatever the reason I am in this now and I want to see it through. I'm going to Barbados as soon as I can get off the Phillips case," she hinted to the man who was once again her boss.

While Ryan was truly everyone's boss at McQuaid Security, Annie reported to Arthur for obvious reasons.

"There are 20 people that can handle Phillips," Arthur mentioned.

"Ryan seemed interested in keeping me on it," Annie worried at a nail with her teeth.

"I'll take care of it, make your plans. Do you need money?" Arthur offered and she almost expected him to take his wallet out and hand her a $20 like her dad.

"Thanks, but no I have money," Annie smiled.

"Annie, you have to know that I respect and admire Ryan. I've known him a long time, longer than Auggie and certainly longer than you, but I have watched you and Auggie together for years and when I watch you and McQuaid, it isn't the same Annie."

***555***

Barbados was actually pretty big for an island and Annie really had no idea where Auggie was, the only reason she knew he was physically on the island and not just routing his money was that the deposits were being made in cash in his name. She supposed he could have had a friend doing that for him, Auggie had friends everywhere, but she had no other place to start.

It took her 2 days to find him. He was tending bar in a shack of a bar on a gorgeous stretch of beach. The place was packed, a decent mix of locals and tourists all fascinated by the blind bartender. He looked good, tanned and smiling and she watched rapt as he mixed drinks, with various bottles and measuring devices labelled in braille. He wasn't just amazing at Langley, he was simply amazing.

"Can I get you something?" a waitress asked as Annie found an empty stool along the edge of the straw bar, close enough to see Auggie but too far for him to recognize her voice.

"I'll have a Mai Tai please," she smiled and ordered something Auggie would never recognize as a choice of hers.

Annie watched the pretty young woman approach the bar and lean into Auggie, her hand on the small of his back and whisper the order to him, he nodded and smiled and finished up the order he was working on before reaching for a bottle of rum.

Annie remembered every time he poured her a glass of wine, a shot of Patron or even cracked open a beer with his elegant fingers and his precise and sure movements. He was more fluid here, settled, he looked like he had been at this for a while. Annie figured he was being paid under the table, a win win for the owner of the establishment who had the draw of a blind bartender without the paper work.

***555***

Two days later the young bar back, Andre, was bringing in some ice when he mentioned to Auggie that a particular blonde was back for the 4th time in 2 days.

"Really?" Auggie grinned.

"She seems more fascinated with you than the average tourist. She seems practically mesmerized," Andre chuckled.

"Mesmerized? What does she look like?" Auggie asked.

A few minutes later Andre delivered a tumbler of clear liquid and a slice of lime to Annie.

"Auggie was wondering if you were just going to stare or actually come say hello…"

TBC…


	4. Chapter 4

Note: Thanks again for the reviews, love them all! Some of you have noted that Annie found Auggie very quickly, but I am trying to get this finished before this week's ep, so things will move quickly from here on out. Also, well….you'll see…

***555***

"Hi," she said awkwardly.

"Walker, what brings you to Barbados?" he smiled, but it wasn't his real smile.

"You," she said honestly.

"Well, here I am," he spread his arms to indicate the bar.

"Can we talk?" Annie asked shyly.

"I get off at 2:00," was all Auggie said in reply.

"OK," Annie agreed.

***555***

Annie returned to the bar around 1:30 that morning, the crowd was thin at that hour and Auggie appeared to be drinking with them, matching them shot for shot. The waitress she saw that first day was at his side laughing and flirting and he kissed her before she left for the evening.

"Auggie," she approached and a couple of locals turned to look her over.

"Hey, Walker, I'll be done in a bit. Want a drink?" he held up the bottle of rum he had in his hand.

"Sure," she agreed and he poured them each a generous amount.

"Cheers," he held up his glass but didn't wait for her to clink before he downed the amber liquid in one long swallow.

"Cheers," she said sadly to herself.

"I'm not far from here, unless you would prefer some place more public," Auggie indicated the dark stretch of beach with a wry grin.

"Your place is fine," Annie agreed and brushed her hand against his.

"I got this," he unfurled his cane and headed off to lead the way.

"You weren't very hard to find," Annie made small talk as they walked.

"I wasn't hiding," he admitted.

"Oh."

"I didn't figure you'd be the one looking," he shrugged.

"Oh," she repeated.

"I mean, you couldn't make it across town in DC to visit, I really didn't think you'd bother getting on a plane."

"Auggie…."

"It's fine Annie, I understand you have moved on and clearly, so have I. How did you find me?"

"I hacked your bank records," she admitted.

Auggie turned with an impressed look on his face.

"Barber hacked your bank records," she corrected and the impressed look turned to a scowl.

"Don't be mad at Barber, I gave him my most pathetic face."

The small house he brought her to was dark and it took Auggie a few minutes to find a lamp for her, the soft yellow light of the lamp showed off a neat interior with simple furnishings.

"It isn't much, but if you listen you can hear the ocean," he shrugged and stripped off his shirt which had various liquors spilled all over it.

"Have a seat," he indicated the area near the couch and went to a back room she assumed was a bedroom.

He returned a few minutes later with a clean shirt on and his feet bare. He went to the fridge and grabbed 2 beers. He handed one to Annie and then made his way across the room to a chair as far away from her as he could be in the same room.

"Joan told you?" Auggie assumed.

"Arthur, but Joan is worried," Annie admitted.

"I'm fine," Auggie assured.

"Are you?"

"Mostly, yes. As fine as I am ever going to be really."

"Good," she sipped her beer awkwardly.

"How are you, Annie?"

"Fine."

"Great, then it looks like your work here is done. I can call you a ride back to your hotel," he stood and moved towards a table where he had deposited his phone.

"So that's it, that is all that is left for us?"

"You felt guilty, you came here, I am fine, you can stop feeling guilty. Yes, that is all that is left for us."

"I don't believe that," Annie stood suddenly, put her body between Auggie and the table and his hands hit her hips to steady himself.

"Annie," his voice had a warning to it.

"When you were gone, when Belenko had you, I knew you were alive. I knew it because I knew that if you were dead I would feel it, part of me would be dead too. You felt that too, right? When I was dark? You knew I wasn't dead?" she whispered this in his ear and felt his fingers twitch against her hips.

"We are connected Auggie, forever," she sighed and tried to coax his arms around her, she wanted to hold him and feel his heartbeat.

"We were, once," he agreed and stepped back.

"I know I made some bad decisions, I know I hurt you."

He simply nodded and returned to his chair, abandoning the call to get her out of his home.

"Things with Ryan were just easier Auggie, he didn't require so much of me, he doesn't possess me the way you do."

"You think this," he indicated the island home, "is about McQuaid? McQuaid is nothing Annie, he is a hairdo, if you want that it is fine with me. This is about a lot more than Ryan, it is about Henry and Eyal and Simon and Ben, it is about every man that you have lied to me to protect, every man you have held higher than me. Me, the person who faithfully did your bidding, kept you safe and broke you out of a goddamned Russian prison."

"You have to know how much you mean to me," Annie stared.

"I do? How exactly do I know that?"

"I love you Auggie, more than I am capable of processing."

"Well, grow up Annie, this is not how you treat someone you love," Auggie snapped.

"Not that it is all your fault, I really should have known better. Do you remember Sophie Jacklin?" Auggie asked.

"Sure," Annie frowned remembering the red head bleeding out on a storeroom floor.

"That was the first time I really saw the lengths you would go to for a man, that piece of shit Mercer. You lied to Joan, you lied to me and you lied to the FBI. I brushed it off, you were a rookie testing your boundaries, but you aren't a rookie any more, you made that painfully clear a few months back. Your MO hasn't changed though. You lied to me to protect Simon, which nearly got you killed, you lied to go after Henry, you lied to protect McQuaid, which almost got me killed. I'm done with the lies Annie. Done."

"So you are going to live here, drink yourself to death and pick up local women for the rest of your life? That's your plan?"

"I don't have a plan, Annie. For the first time since I was about 8 I do not have a plan or an agenda or a secret. I get up and I walk the beach, I work most days and have a few friends here, some of whom are women I happen to enjoy the company of, but none of them are a plan. "

"And you are OK with that?"

"Today, yes. What's your plan Annie, work for McQuaid forever, get married have a couple of rich kids?" Auggie stood to pace.

"No," she said.

"Then what is your plan, Annie? What do you want?" he turned towards where she had been sitting but she was up now, right next to him and he bumped into her again, but this time she steadied him with her hands on his hips.

"You," she said before she launched herself at him, capturing his lips with hers, plunging her tongue into his mouth tasting the rum and the beer and the desire and the love that she knew was there.

TBC…


	5. Chapter 5

Notes: Thanks for the reviews, they really help shape the story and make it better. So, it turns out I don't think Walkerson is unfixable, but I also don't think we will actually see anything like this….maybe Auggie leaving town (I would if I were him) but probably not this.

***555***

"Annie," Auggie growled as he pulled his lips from hers and pushed her, arm's length from his body.

"No," Annie refused to let him stop this.

"This isn't a good idea," he said but didn't remove his hands from her body entirely.

"Tell me you don't want me, like this, right now and I will leave," she promised and could see the desire written all over his body.

"That isn't the point Annie, I have always wanted you like this. I can't go through this again, I can't think I have everything I want and have you rip it all away again. I can't," his hands were still on her body.

"I'm sorry Auggie," she said, her voice small, her voice wavering.

He looked up, his eyes glassy from more than the booze.

"I am. This is everything I have ever wanted too and I know I am the one that ruined it, on more than one occasion. I don't know if it was out of fear or self-sabotage, but it was never because I stopped loving you, Auggie."

He didn't speak, just pulled her back to him, kissed her again, his hands pulling the thin tee shirt up and off her body so his hands could touch more of her. He managed to lead her around the couch and back to the bedroom without breaking the seal of their mouths and pulled her down on top of him as he collapsed against the bed.

"God Auggie," Annie gasped as he rolled her under him and pinned her to the small bed.

"Is this really what you want Annie?" his question was sincere and sweet, his big hand pushing her hair back from her forehead, his lips warm against the skin there.

"It is all I have ever wanted, Auggie," she repeated as she arched under him trying to bring their bodies together faster.

Neither of them spoke again, aside from a few declarations of desire and satisfaction until Annie collapsed on Auggie's chest.

"God, that was, God Auggie… everything," she managed between trying to gather her breath.

"Mmmmm," he hummed and nodded unable to find words himself for how good he felt holding Annie after all this time physically and emotionally apart.

"What do we do now?" she yawned as she realized the sun was rising outside the bedroom window.

"Sleep, Annie, just sleep," he worked them under the thin blankets and cradled her body against his.

***555***

Annie woke later, alone. She could hear the shower running and leaned up to see it was close to ten in the morning. She tapped on the bathroom door.

"Yeah," Auggie called her in.

"Can I pee?" she asked shyly.

"Some things never change," he grinned under the shower, "go ahead."

After she flushed Auggie asked her to join him.

"I need to do something, I'll be back in a few minutes," she said.

"You OK?" he stuck his head out of the shower curtain, his long hair slicked back.

"Oh yeah," she assured, knowing he feared she would bolt again "you?"

"I'm good," he nodded and she could see joy on his face and no sign of regret.

"Good," she walked over and kissed his wet lips before she left.

Annie slipped her shirt and shorts on over her naked body and found her bag with her phone in it. She took the phone outside and dialed.

"Hey, how's the vacation?" Ryan asked.

"It isn't exactly a vacation," Annie began.

"Huh?"

"Ryan, I haven't been entirely honest with you and it seems awful to be doing this over the phone, but you need to know, you deserve to know."

"Annie, you're scaring me, where are you?"

"I am in Barbados," she hadn't lied about that.

"But you aren't with Danielle?" he ventured.

"No, I'm with Auggie."

"You found him," Ryan stated with a sigh.

"Yes. Wait? How did you know I was looking for him?"

"I didn't I just knew he had left town," Ryan admitted.

"You did?" Annie asked, shocked.

"I have a source in the CIA, he told me when Auggie quit, I saw him then, he didn't tell you?"

"No," Annie continued to be stunned.

"Huh, well I went and saw him after he left the agency and offered him a job."

"At McQuaid?"

"Yes, but not in DC. I offered him a job in London."

"Why?"

"Because I saw how you were when he was missing Annie, you were different, you were consumed, you were devastated. I had never seen you so emotional about anything."

"I love him."

"I know, and I thought if I got him out of town and kept you busy enough not to notice you would forget that you did," Ryan sighed and rubbed his eyes.

"So you wanted him out of town? Well, you got your wish, he's in Barbados and I am with him. Ryan, I think it is safe to say I am not leaving him again," Annie wasn't mean, but she was very clear.

***555***

"Was that McQuaid?" Auggie asked as he emerged from the back door in nothing but a towel.

"Why didn't you tell me he asked you to leave town?"

"It didn't seem important, he wasn't the reason I left. I really did need a vacation," he shrugged.

"This is quite a vacation," Annie grinned as she reached up and gave him her hand so he could join her on the rock wall, she slipped under his arm and kissed his warm chest.

"You know we haven't actually fixed anything?" he asked as he teased along the sleeve of her tee shirt.

"I know, we will need a lot more make up sex," she turned her head and nipped at the fingers on her shoulder.

"I'm serious Annie, we did this last time, fell into bed without talking, I want to talk. I need to talk about everything we brought up last night, about how I am dealing with what happened to me, about your heart condition. You need to understand that I stop being the last person you think about, the one you just assume will be there when you need him."

"Is that why you left, to teach me a lesson?" she asked slightly hurt.

"No, I left because without you, the agency and DC in general held nothing for me, it was just a hollow empty reminder of what I wanted and couldn't have."

"Why didn't you say that when I came back? Why didn't you tell me you wanted this?"

"You clearly didn't, or wouldn't admit that you did, you had been gone for 4 months and were so tentatively back, I would have agreed to anything to get you not to run away again Annie, anything to have you close, but even that didn't matter because I lost you to McQuaid, I lost you to another quest and that was too much."

"It's a good thing I quit my job then, this conversation sounds like a full time commitment."

"Heart to hearts require talking. How long can you stay?"

"If I check out of the expensive hotel, awhile," she kissed him and had the towel loosened at his waist before he came to his senses.

"Go do that now, I have to go into work and take care of my own commitments," he alluded to the woman he was kissing last night.

"How many commitments do you have exactly?" she asked with a chuckle.

"Just the one and it is very casual, at least I think it is, but we work together and you know how messy THAT can get," he teased.

TBC…


	6. Chapter 6

Notes: Thanks to all who read and reviewed, this is the last chapter coming in just before tonight's ep where we find out what happened to Auggie. I have a feeling I will have fodder for more fic soon!

***555***

Auggie took a couple days off, his casual coworker seemed to take his news fine and his boss was willing to give him some time to spend with Annie on the agreement that he wouldn't leave for good without enough time for the boss to replace him with another hot blind bartender.

Getting Annie to talk, really talk, was as hard as Auggie imagined it would be, but eventually he coaxed some real nuggets out of her about her father, about her time with Simon and her time tracking Henry. Revelations they both were surprised by, sometimes it was harder than Annie wanted to deal with.

"Can that be enough for tonight?" she asked, her voice thick with tears, after she admitted that she pursued Simon more aggressively after Auggie told her he was proposing to Parker and she really believed that decision got Simon killed.

"Yeah," Auggie whispered as he stroked her hair and kissed her temple.

"The doctor kept asking medical questions to come up with a cause for the Myocarditis, I wanted to scream and tell him I did it to myself. I made the wrong choices over and over, for my heart, and now my body is finally punishing me for it."

"We'll fix your heart," Auggie said and Annie wasn't sure if he meant emotionally or physically, but she turned in his arms and kissed him, wrapping all her limbs around him and holding on with all she had.

"I love you," she said between kisses.

"Yeah?" he grinned.

"I will never let you doubt it again," she promised as she pushed him back against the small couch and proceeded to demonstrate one of the ways she aimed to show him.

***555***

"When I first started looking for you I reached out to some of your exes?" Annie mentioned as she fed Auggie fruit off the plate she had balanced on his chest in bed.

"Oh?" he arched his eyebrows.

"You'll be happy to know they were all concerned, even Natasha," Annie laughed.

"She isn't really as cold as she seems," he shrugged.

"I had drinks with Liza Hearn."

"You were desperate," he chuckled.

"I think it was way back then I started to feel jealous. I was in your apartment and I found a stocking that belonged to Liza and it was like a physical blow. I actually went home and told Danielle about it, not using any names or anything, but I gossiped to her like we were in school."

"Way back then?"

"Oh yeah, I kind of wanted you that day in the morgue when you took your shoes off and I saw your adorable feet."

He freed one foot from the confines of the sheet and teased her hip with it.

"These feet?" he grinned.

"Yeah those."

"I remember dropping you on the mat, our first fight training session and wanting to kiss you so badly."

"I wouldn't have slapped you," she grinned.

"Maybe that would have been better, gotten the sexual tension resolved early and then developed the trust, I don't know. Maybe waiting the way we did heightened everything, raised the stakes," Auggie accepted another piece of pineapple.

Annie's fingers stayed on his lips.

"The stakes have been high for us for a while. I wouldn't mind lowering some of them. Can we stay here for a while?"

"You really don't have any commitments back home?"

"None."

"Sure. The house is paid for and I make enough at the bar to keep us in tropical fruit and sunscreen for as long as you want."

"I want to heal us, Auggie. I want us unbreakable before we make any other decisions."

***555***

"All the time we have known each other Annie and I had never 'seen' you. I would dream about you, but it was always emotion and not an image. I traced every one of your features when we were together, I mean all of them," he laughed dryly, "but I never really knew what you looked like."

"You do now?" Annie asked as she sipped a cup of tea, it was 2:00 in the morning and she and Auggie were sitting on the beach after his shift.

"When I was in that room, in that box, I knew how quickly a person can go crazy in those conditions. I would close my eyes and there you were, like all the pieces I had mapped over the years came together and you were perfectly clear."

"Auggie…." She sighed and reached over to wipe a tear from the corner of his eye.

"It's how I knew to send you the Patron that day in the bar, when Andre described the beautiful woman he had seen a few times I just knew it was you."

"So when you offered to describe me to myself in Amsterdam?"

"I could have done a good enough job to impress you, I find anything even remotely close is impressive from a blind guy, kind of like a fortune-teller, but I didn't really know then Annie, I had no idea how beautiful you are," he said his stare fixed out on the dark ocean.

***555***

It had been over a month since Annie arrived in Barbados, Auggie was back to a regular work schedule and Annie found herself with time, lots of time. It used to be a danger, Annie Walker with nothing to do, but when she really sat with herself she began to embrace it. Auggie was right, if you were quiet you could hear the ocean a block away through the windows.

Annie made a simple dinner for herself one night while Auggie was at work and fired up her laptop. She started typing and before she knew it Auggie was home, it was after 2:00 and he was kissing along the column of her neck.

"Hey," she smiled.

"What are you typing?" he asked as he worked the tie of her bathing suit top.

"Not sure yet, just started writing and couldn't stop," she saved her document and lowered the lid of the laptop.

"Hmmm," he murmured curiously but didn't stop kissing along the spread of her shoulders.

"You hungry?" she purred as he engaged his teeth.

"Starving," he replied as he whipped the kitchen chair around and dropped to his knees in front of her.

There had been a lot of sex, between all the talking. There had been slow and there had been sweet and there had been frenzied. This was definitely frenzied, Auggie still feared that Annie might just disappear beneath his fingers at any moment.

"Bed," Annie hooked a thumb back over her shoulder.

"Here," Auggie pulled her from the chair into his lap on the floor and she giggled.

"You smell like rum," she mentioned as she nuzzled his neck.

"You feel like heaven," he countered, his hands running the full length of her torso, over her hips and along her strong thighs.

He could feel heat radiating off her body.

"Did you get sunburned?" he traced fingertips along her skin and felt her shiver.

"No, this is all you," she assured as she kissed him and pushed him back.

"Sex on the kitchen floor always seems like a good idea until you're done," Auggie yawned as he held Annie's sweaty body close.

"I hadn't ever given it much thought," Annie laughed.

"Shower?" he sat up, her languid body molded to him.

"Sure," she kissed his jaw, stubbly from his long night at work.

"Want to get married?" he asked as casually.

"Sure," she replied with the same kiss.

The End


End file.
